Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael

The '''Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael''' is a Croatian Catholic church located on 502 West 41st Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City (near the Lincoln Tunnel entrance). St. Raphael parish was founded in 1886, and the current church's cornerstone was laid on 26 October 1902. The church opened on 16 November 1913, and it initially served a working-class Irish community. In 1974, it became a Croatian church named for the 9th-century Greek siblings Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius, who brought Christianity to the Slavs; the Sts. Cyril & Methodius church moved from an older church (which was sold to a Bulgarian Orthodox congregation) to St. Raphael, leading to the church being renamed to "Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael".